STELLA SAFARI, 26

Detroit director, gBETA; Owner, ,
Safari Beauty

When Stella Safari moved from Congo to the United States, she was 8 years old, and her mother stayed behind in Africa. So she was raised by her five older sisters.

She saw their challenges and successes, and how they pushed past boundaries, and they became her heroes and role models.

"I found a lot of my identity and my voice in my womanhood," said Safari, who majored in gender studies and math and social sciences at Dartmouth College. "I lived a feminist life before I even knew what the word feminism was."

Today, she believes in the power of women — and of entrepreneurs to solve problems and create opportunities. "I'm fascinated by company building," said Safari. She moved to Detroit as a Venture for America fellow, working for Invest Detroit, an early stage funder of businesses. Her interest in startups led her to furniture maker Floyd, where she was director of operations, and to business center Ponyride, where she was executive director.

Now she leads the gBETA accelerator, which provides six weeks of free training to fast-growing companies to prepare them for venture funding. It's completed two cohorts. Cohort companies have gone on to raise over $400,000 in capital and include The Lip Bar, Cellular EMT, Bogobrush and Detroit Ento.

In between, Safari runs a natural hair services company that grew from her decision to skip the chemicals and go natural. "It's a huge passion and I get to connect with women on a very personal level," she said.

She's into yoga and meditation — "it's helped me," she said. She also coaches a girls cheerleading group and in the summer, runs a high school entrepreneurship program that brings together young people from Detroit and Cranbrook to solve entrepreneurial problems.

"She was exceptional talent … able to blend in really well with the community," said Martin Dober, senior vice president with Invest Detroit.

In the future, Safari hopes to grow the company and develop a venture capital fund that may focus on beauty products. Or on women.

"I'm kind of driven by the mission and passions around women and beauty and technology," she said.

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